By Joseph Kanyekanye, CZI President
THE selective removal (from the sanctions list) of individuals who have not “repented” for being in Zanu-PF, or are deemed “safe” or because they have been replaced in their post, or have moved to another political party or are dead as seen in this latest review, points to a carrot-and-stick approach targeting Zanu-PF activists.
This is clearly partisan and suggests an agenda to deal with Zanu-PF rather than human rights issues. This interference in Zimbabwe’s politics is very wrong, unprecedented in normal international diplomacy and clearly offends some citizens violently.
I studied in Britain and remember clearly seeing the Sein Fein leader on television being censored by those who would not allow his voice to be heard. I saw this as strange behaviour, and could not understand why my British friends accepted it. But who was I to challenge this?
The Chamber of Mines estimated the weighted growth in the mining sector at 17 percent and projected a 35 percent growth in 2010 largely driven by gold and platinum. They, however, noted that US$3 to US$5 billion is required for recapitalisation of the mining sector over the next five years. This is more than the market capitalisation on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. Self-sufficiency in electricity will probably require above US$8 billion if both the Sengwa and Batoka options are to be implemented with the objective of generating 3 000MW. It can be inferred that the current investor interest in mining coupled with projections for growth can only be sustained by investments beyond Zimbabwe’s current domestic capital. Zidera militates against this.
It is a fact that Zimbabwe since 1999 accumulated arrears with most multilateral agencies. This has prevented the country from accessing further resources since then. It is also a fact that our railways were largely funded by institutions like the World Bank. We should further acknowledge that large-scale infrastructure projects have been largely funded by these institutions including Badea in my industry — the timber, wood and furniture sector. It is also a fact that higher level postgraduate training also came from European scholarship programmes such as Finnda, British Council, etc. It is against this background that Zidera is an offensive Act in a GNU.
Around 300 CZI businessmen at Victoria Falls in July 2010 objected to this and noted that “it is our view that sanctions are inappropriate and not in line with the Global PoliticalAgreement (GPA) principles and industry will engage all protagonists to remove these”.
The hypocrisy of the West crying foul over alleged human rights abuses from 2009 onwards in Zimbabwe is amplified by the silence of the West on published abuses at Guantanamo in Cuba under the United States post-9/11. The Kenyan economy never got sanctioned for clear human rights violations seen on television and their economy is now booming on the basis of Sino-Persian investment which is now surpassing British investment. Beyond the evident hypocrisy the West is losing out on the last frontier for resources found in Kenya and Zimbabwe.
Only this month the Euromoney investor conference had international speakers publicly acknowledging that there is an incorrect tendency to assign political risk to Zimbabwe equivalent to that of the DRC. People have been murdered in the Congo from their presidents to common women that suffered the indignity of being raped by combatants and even by UN peacekeepers. There has never been an attempt to impose their own Codera (equivalent to Zidera) because of clear national interests by the West to secure mineral resources and timber. Put simply, the notion that the West can impose sanctions to safeguard democracy and human rights is as far-fetched as finding Santa Claus in my hometown of Mutare sliding down the Christmas Pass.
Our immediate past history of Zimbabwe just before independence is ample proof of this while events unfolding in Saudi Arabia, where the government has banned demonstrations, are instructive in the sense that the West is unlikely to dump the House of Saud for such “frivolous” issues as democracy and human rights. History, lest someone is not yet convinced, can throw in the long reign of Joseph Mobutu (Sese Seko) which the West supported.
Recommended Way Forward
We recommend the lifting of sanctions. This would remove a major divisive factor from the Zimbabwean political landscape. The West should not act unilaterally with regards to Zimbabwe. We recommend that Sadc and AU be allowed to take the lead in Zimbabwe and that the West’s policy should be guided by Sadc and AU. Should sanctions be deemed necessary by Sadc or the AU in order to promote democracy in Zimbabwe then the West can follow suit. The benefits of our recommendations are as follows:
- The West cannot be misconstrued as interfering in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs.
- Sanctions cannot be used by any political party to gain political mileage.
- Any action that is taken will have far greater credibility within and outside Zimbabwe if it is led by Sadc and the AU.
- We believe a lot will be gained from trade than combative politics.
- We believe that the opportunities afforded the earlier generation to study in Britain and learn entrepreneurship can be enjoyed by the current generation.
- We do not like to be British but by dint of history we are more British than any other foreign culture.
Any move towards forced surrender of equity outside market rules is an immoral position as that imposed on Zimbabwe by the EU and US sanctions. If a naked mad person bolts into your bathroom and runs out naked with your bathrobe, it is wise to suppress a natural instinct to run after him naked in the public: it might be difficult for the watching public to ascertain who the mad person is. Dialogue with the mad man after his run is a better option to deal with him than the natural instinct to chase him.
Our local private media needs a paradigm shift that not everything coming out of Zanu-PF is bad and that they should allow other views to be heard to debate sanctions as opposed to a one-sided affair where the same columnists including one expert sanctions buster are afforded columns to belittle any contrary views. With freedom comes responsibility.
The Zimbabwean private Press must start to exercise responsibility to protect our national interest as well. It is important that we do not stifle debate by using unethical tactics of dishing out lies and innuendos on individuals. I respect and will defend their right to criticise at all times and to oppose but let’s keep it factual and let’s focus on the issues, not individuals.
To get us out of this quagmire, let’s do good always and everywhere in spite of what others do. This must cover politics, business and religion. We are a country where one can walk around at 4am and not expect to be murdered. We are different. In the words of Zimbabwe’s Permanent Secretary for Tourism and Hospitality Industry, one of Zimbabwe’s greatest wonders is its people. Let’s leverage our goodnaturedness, our renowned literacy and “unhu/ubuntu” to engage our real and perceived adversaries at all times. We should realise that anyone can win an argument but what matters is our economic and social well-being.
To the US and British ambassadors: who wants these sanctions in this country? We demand the removal of sanctions urgently. Perhaps our sovereignty and democratic rights can be respected.
Zimbabweans, conscious of our history and aware of impacts on industry, must speak out notwithstanding the fact that we may be vilified by fellow citizens plus foreigners who should know their place. This cannot be “unhu/ubuntu”.
Men and women before us sacrificed their lives to free us, how can we fail them in fighting this injustice that tightens the screws on the motherland?
The British Embassy must engage Harare via third parties if it has to remove these sanctions sooner rather than later as some of us will never stop fighting this in Zimbabwe and beyond very soon. CZI will engage political parties, governments and any institution at home and abroad that can remove these sanctions. As a lobby group, we are driven by one consideration — building a legacy of prosperity for all businesses (State and non-State owned) in this country.
Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC-M leaders must meet as a government and publicly sign a letter to the USA and British governments demanding an immediate removal of sanctions as covered in the GPA. Alternatively, the MDC parties could also independently signal publicly their rejection of sanctions. We will come to support this willingly if invited.
We must be men and women who keep their word and, above everything else, do the right thing notwithstanding what others do.
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